Blockchain technology is blooming slowly but surely with different industries experimenting with distributed ledger technology. Horizon State aims to use blockchain technology to provide unprecedented trust with their decision-making platform in the form of a secure digital ballot box that cannot be hacked, results cannot be altered and voter identities are protected. This is set to be a global gamechanger and will soon be adopted by political parties, multinational enterprises, global NGOs and communities in developing countries. I spoke to Horizon State Chief Product Officer Jamie Skella about how he set up the company, case studies and transforming the technology behind Bitcoin into something that offers democracy.

Madhvi Mavadiya: How is HorizonState revolutionising the voting system?

Jamie Skella: Horizon State is utilizing distributed ledger technology, otherwise known as blockchain, to deliver a digital ballot box that cannot be hacked. Sharing all of the technological benefits that makes Bitcoin possible - being verifiable transactions of value without a bank - we are using blockchain transactions as votes, while still maintaining anonymity of the voter. The end result is a system that is quicker to orchestrate than traditional voting methods, more convenient for voters which reduces apathy, and far cheaper than centralized, physical voting processes. What is costing Australian tax payers AUS$122 (USD$95) for a marriage equality postal vote would cost in the vicinity of AUS$2 million (USD$157,000) using our system. This equates to a cost per eligible voter of less than $1, instead of $7, or more.

Mavadiya: What was the reason behind creating your product?

Skella: I waited until I was quite old, relative to enrolment age of most voters, before I registered to do so. I could never stomach the idea that I get to vote once every few years, for entire packages of policies. I wanted to be able to vote per policy, and ideally, as those policy issues arose. While the internet could theoretically enable this, there was no viable option to secure the vote digitally. Blockchain changed that, so I got to work on a solution that leveraged it for an Australian democratic movement named MiVote, who had similar aspirations to be able to engage a national constituency with immediacy, and with frequency - asking the public to vote on matters that affect them, as those matters arose.

Mavadiya: Did you recognise a gap in the market for this form of service?

Skella: Our blockchain voting system has been in use since February, for MiVote. Since then, they’ve ran four nationally inclusive votes with their Australian membership. We are now engaged with global NGOs, multinational enterprises, national governments, and city councils around the world about the adopting of our technology. It has applications for everything from AGMs, to electing officials, and polling international memberships on sensitive matters such as use of funds.

Mavadiya: Could you explain how the system works?

Skella: In a similar way that a Bitcoin transaction is cast to a network of nodes that reach consensus on the details of that transaction, before setting it in stone on the network, we do this with votes. The post-unforgeable integrity of distributed ledger technology means that once a transaction is verified by the network, be it a Bitcoin transaction of value, or a Horizon State transaction representing a vote, this is now irreversible. In the case of Horizon State, the result is a perfectly secure ballot box, where the results can never be changed, and can be recounted with the same result every time, in perpetuity.

Mavadiya: How secure is the system and would it prevent high-level hacks?

Skella: For the foreseeable future, distributed databases such as the ones that underpin Bitcoin, Ethereum, and indeed Horizon State’s platform, are entirely secure. There is theoretical speculation that a quantum computer would be able to compromise blockchain networks such as Ethereum, yet even if this speculation is grounded in real possibility or probability, practical quantum computers are many, many years away. Of course, with quantum decryption, comes quantum encryption - so it may be a moot point, regardless.

Mavadiya: What's next for e-voting?

Skella: The future of e-voting isn’t merely improving centralized, physical methods of vote collection. The technology now exists to deliver the opportunity to vote conveniently, and securely, from the modern technology we are all so used to in every other facet of our lives. Driverless cars now exist, yet our democratic processes and tools are a comparable horse and cart. The way we govern our societies is a relic; the way collectively make decisions has not changed in centuries.

Flitting back and forth between the finance and news industries, I’m now a reporter for leading fintech publication Finextra. I previously managed content and editorial relationships for bobsguide and wrote for sister publication GTNews, now The Global Treasurer, before movi...